Walker - 1967 - A geography of Italy

PART IV ; ECONOM IC GEOGRAPHY
rubber, plastics and nitrates. The bottling of gas for domestic use has revolutionized
the kitchens of thousands o f homes formerly dependent on wood and
charcoal.
The spectacular developments in natural gas production not imnaturally
raised hopes o f striking oil in sizeable quantities. Until 1949 only small amoimts
o f oil had been located, mainly in the Fornovo-Cortemaggiore area. Inevitably
a controversy arose as to what should be the relative rôles o f the state company
and o f the private, largely foreign-owned, oil companies in prospecting and
production. The state found a champion in the late Enrico Mattei; he had been
appointed originally to wind up A G IP but on the strength o f the Po Valley gas
discoveries he gained a reprieve for the organization and lived to build it into an
industrial empire.^ In the face o f some internal opposition and of pressure from
the international oil companies the privileged position o f the state was confirmed
in 1953 and again in 1957. E N I (Ente Nazionale Idrocarburi), set up in 1953 with
A G I P as one o f its main subsidiaries, was granted a monopoly o f gas and oil
prospecting, production and distribution in the Po Valley. In the rest of the
country E N I was obliged to compete with the Italian subsidiaries o f the international
oil companies which were already active in Sicily and the Abruzzi. In
fact the conditions governing prospecting and production on the mainland were
considered so unfavourable by the international companies that they have lost
interest and have since concentrated their efforts in Sicily where the autonomous
government is more favourably disposed towards them. In fact, the oil eldorado
did not materialize; the richest fields are in Sicily at Ragusa, discovered by G ulf
Italia in 1954, and at Gela, struck by E N I in 1956. All told the output of Sicilian
oil, which is poor in quality because of its bituminous and sulphurous character,
amounts to little more than 2-5 million tons (1964). The only other notable fields
are at Cortemaggiore (EN I) and in the Abruzzi at Vallecupo (EN I) and Alanno
(Petrosud). As hopes faded that Italy would join the ranks o f the major producers,
E N I, whose director resented the stranglehold o f the international companies on
the supplies o f imported crude, sought and obtained concessions in Egypt, the
G u lf coast o f Persia, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia and elsewhere. When supplies
were still not sufficiently forthcoming E N I made the controversial decision to
import crude from the U S S R and Rumania.
With its headquarters at Metanopoh, near Milan, E N I now ranks as one of
Europe’s industrial giants. Apart from its gas and oil interests in the Po Valley,
the group controls refineries in Italy with a capacity o f over 8 million tons
(notably at Gela, Mestre, Leghorn, Bari, Sannazzano dei Burgondi) as well as
petro-chemical plants at Ravenna, Pisticci (Basilicata) and elsewhere; it operates
a tanker fleet o f 500,000 tons and a large distribution network not only in Italy
but in a number o f African and Emopean coimtries; it is competing with Marseilles
and the north European ports for the central European market by means
1 In 1964 ENI ranked 31st among Europe’s major concerns as far as turnover was concerned.
IR I, Fiat and Finsider were placed 5th, loth and 23rd respectively.
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